Known high flow BSGS systems confront significant problems relative to backflow detection, container depletion, and the recurrent need for system redesigns when multiple gases with different physical properties are desired. In a high flow BSGS system that seeks to reliably supply ammonia vapor from multiple gas containers at the same time, poor system designs can lead to problems. For example, backflow of ammonia from one container into another can result in overfilling and possible subsequent over-pressurization. Further, containers may not become depleted at the same time due to unequal withdrawal rates from the containers. This results in wasted product due to excessive amounts of “heel”. Still further, excessive redesign/retrofit is required for all the various potential combinations of types of BSGS gases, BSGS containers including tonners, low pressure drums, and isocontainers (ISOs), which may be connected to any of several BSGS gas panels.
Further, manifolding containers allows for ultra high vapor draws from liquefied gas sources without the need for massive and costly bulk supply vessels, thus achieving substantially equivalent flows as with ISOs.
The known systems concerned with gases, particularly ammonia, address, for example, methods to provide heat to the bulk supply sources. These methods are generally intended to either improve the flow capacity of the system or improve the purity of the ammonia product. Other known methods address attempts to impact the flow capacity of a system by using liquid withdrawal of ammonia with subsequent vaporization taking place in a heat exchanger that is external to the bulk container, or improving the purity of the ammonia product.
However, no known systems or methods address the need to avoid backflow, (with or without operator intervention), from one container to another when supplying vapor from containers of gases. Backflow can result in a situation where a container may become hydraulically full of liquefied product gas. When heat is applied to a container in this condition, the results can include undesirable activation of container pressure relief devices and/or over-pressurization of the container, depending on the type of container and the type of relief device employed.
The known “heated room” technique claims to avoid the backflow issue by not using heaters directly applied to the containers and, presumably, by designing a flow manifold that collects the gases from the multiple sources, such that the flow resistance is allegedly similar for each container. However, this technique is characterized by very low heat transfer rates for individual containers and, subsequently, very low steady state gas flow capacities per container. In addition, for applications with high flow rates, large numbers of containers are required.
Therefore, there are no known methods regarding the simultaneous gas feed and supply from multiple BSGS sources that solve the present problems known to exist in the field.